


pull me out of the quicksand i'm in

by orphan_account



Series: if we continue to wonder. [1]
Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, clueless jihoon, damn cute, emotionally constipated jihoon, woojin is just really nice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-25
Updated: 2017-07-31
Packaged: 2018-12-06 22:10:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11609967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: If you were to approach Jihoon right now to ask him about his current life struggles, he'd able to name at least 10 on the spot.All of them involve a red headed, diluted red lip boy that might go by the name Park Woojin.Or, in other words, Jihoon is a mess but that's ok, because someone's always there to help him out of the quicksand he's unfortunately trapped himself in.





	1. help! i've fallen and i can't get up

  * _He's missing three of his socks so now, he has to go everywhere with mismatching bright pink and green neon socks_. Whilst he does a good job at convincing everybody that that's just the way he dresses, he isn't doing a great job at convincing everyone to leave him be for it (meaning fans, friends and even his members tend to point out the odd combination of colour on his feet). Admitting that he's lost his socks would probably be easier than convincing everyone that he just likes over the top mismatched neon articles of clothing, but Jihoon's never been one for the 'easy way out'. So, as the weeks pass by (he forgets to buy new socks) he sticks with his mismatched socks because Jihoon is Jihoon and, quote, 'as long as Park Jihoon does it, it will be deemed socially acceptable'.



 

  * _He can't seem to get the stain off of his jeans._ A few days ago, on a dull and uneventful Tuesday (that's an over exaggeration on Jihoon's part), the members had decided to go out for a meal, the hyungs offering to pay stating that 'We've got bank! I mean we have the same amount of back but still! Bank!!!'. The younger members had accepted the offer because, well, the food would be free and it would be the first time in 2 weeks (maybe 3) that they had gone out to eat something that wasn't artificially seasoned ramen from the convenience store down the street. As they approached the door of the small barbeque place, Jihoon's need for food began to increase, along with his want for a few pieces of beef. Seating 11 loud and rowdy boys wasn't as difficult as planned in Jihoon's head, he was thankful. Just as he was about to feed himself another piece of beef, a slightly tipsy (understatement) Daniel had managed to spill one of the side dishes onto Jihoon's lap, resulting on a stain on his jeans. "lol sorry bro," said Daniel. "it's fine, I’ll head back now if it's alright, you can go to karaoke without me." That was that. Jihoon had headed home and it was then that he realised 1. He had a huge stain on his left thigh and 2. It was 4AM



 

  * _He can't seem to fully memorise the dances for their comeback._ Jihoon was raised to be told lying was bad and obviously, it was. But, he thought small white lies like "It looks good on you" or "It tastes great!" or even his most recent "No it's fine, I’ll be home in a bit." Jihoon, no matter how hard he tried, could not nail the turn, that he had been specifically chosen to do, in their dance routine. He forced himself and no matter how hard he worked, he ended up with his butt on the floor or his knees in jeopardy. 3 hours after everyone had left, Jihoon is still at the practice room, wishing that he could just go to sleep, telling himself he could practice tomorrow. But, Jihoon is Jihoon and no matter what, he doesn't give up. He goes home eventually, at 7AM in the morning. He returns to a quiet dorm, sunlight peeking through their sheer white curtain that contrasts with his dark magenta bruises. 



 

  * _He can't finish his homework._ Another all-nighter. He's pulled an all-nighter straight for a whole 2 weeks. Jihoon stares at the textbook with a blank stare, not even looking at the problem in front of him, just merely directing his vision onto it. It takes him 10 minutes to realise he isn't actually doing anything. He tried again, this time only to end up spending 20 minutes on one problem and realising that he hasn't even got that right. To the left of him is 4 other textbooks consisting of pages upon pages of work for him to do for tommorow. Jihoon may have the privilege of not having to face his teachers straigh in the face, that however, doesn't stop them from setting him work like the rest of his classmates. A peek at the clock on the wall of their kitchen and Jihoon realised that it's 3:56AM and that he's consumed 5 mugs of coffee.



 

  * _He's come down with a 37-degree fever and is absolutely refusing to go home._ Jihoon stumbles into his seat of the van, tripping down the stairs twice before final settling. Jisung tells him that he should go back upstairs since he "isn't in perfect shape and is risking his health". He refuses and says that he's just extremely tired and he can't seem to function properly because of the drowsiness that comes with waking up. Jisung lets him come, agreeing to do so with a look of worry and slight annoyance. He stumbles out of the van too, using the same excuses. Jihoon manages to make it through make up and styling whilst keeping up his "I’m okay" front. That is, until he faints. He's out for a few hours (Daehwi has informed him) and he's currently in a hospital bed. "You passed out, but you didn't hit anything." "Oh, where is everybody?" "Downstairs, we've all been up, you still have a visitor left outside though." "Okay, thanks." "No problem."



 

  * _He's currently on a 13-hour flight, headed to New York for KCON. He trips in the aisle and hits someone in the process._ Jihoon would argue that he was actually not clumsy, that he was able to keep his composure whilst balancing on two feet. So, when he trips in the aisle of their flight, he's shocked to find that he's also managed to slap Jinyoung in the face whilst doing so, causing the whole section to look at him. If there was a word for when you felt embarrassed and couldn't move, then that would perfectly describe Jihoon. He stayed put for 5 minutes until someone had coughed, requesting for him to move so that they could go to the bathroom. With a little bit of help, he stands up and makes it back to his seat, the tips of his ears still red and his heart still pumping like he ran a whole marathon. Not cool, Jihoon thinks. Not cool.



 

  * _He can't stop staring at the guy sitting beside him._ 13 hour flights are not pleasant. Jihoon decides that this statement is true after he's done absolutely everything possible. He's watched 2 movies, read his textbook and he's played battleship on the plane's monitor with Daehwi, but he still isn't satisfied. When the lights of the plane dim, Jihoon is forced to look around for things that interest him. He looks at the 'NO SMOKING SIGN' for a few seconds, deeming it boring and useless because 'what’s the point of having a light up sign if you won't turn it off?' . He takes a look at Daehwi, who is to his left. His head is on Jinyoung's shoulder, and his mouth is open slightly, he's emitting soft snores whilst Jinyoung very lightly strokes his hand with his thumb. It's cute, Jihoon thinks. He then turns his focus to Jinyoung, who is barely paying attention to the movie he has turned on (is it cars 1 or 2? Jihoon doesn't know), as his attention is placed on the boy to his right. He watches as Jinyoung falls asleep, his own head resting on top of Daehwi's. With those two asleep, he turns to his right. Woojin is staring at a monitor with concentration and curiosity, paying clear attention to the movie he's put on. Jihoon notices it instantly, it’s the movie 'her'. The first time he watched it, he was cooped up on his small singular top bunk, next to Woojin. He thinks back to the now and studies the boy next to him. He's never noticed how big Woojin's hands were, sure he's held them, but he's payed more attention to how warm they are rather than how big they were. His eyes travel to Woojin's eyes. They were focused on the screen. Swollen and drooping, probably due from their intense schedules. He stops at his final destination, Woojin's lips. They're a pale shade of pink, probably due to the fact that they're 10,000 feet above the earth's surface. Jihoon knows that normally, his lips are a shade of diluted red. He stares for a little too long and realises this when he goes back up Woojin's eyes, as now, they're shut. Jihoon turns of Woojin's monitor and takes his headphones off, placing them in the small pocket in front of Woojin's seat. Just as he's about to do the same, a weight is placed on his shoulder and a hand is placed on his own. He looks down and sees Woojin's hand in his own, his head drooping onto Jihoon's shoulder. Jihoon reminds himself that it is rude and impolite to stare, and he silently apologises to Woojin (not sincerely though).



 

  * _He feels like if he speaks for any longer, he'll vomit butterflies and flowers._ The first day of their New York schedules is done, the fan meet and the interviews were over for the day and all of the members of Wanna One have returned to their hotel. Jihoon looks at the wall for a clock, only to realise that he was holding his phone in his left hand. 12:56AM. Huh, they're back early for once. Jihoon's head snaps up after he hears the bathroom door open. Woojin steps and tells Jihoon that it’s his turn. Jihoon gathers his belongings and enters the bathroom. He exits 20 minutes later and sees that Woojin is nowhere to be found. He turns the lights off and that’s when he notices a foot peeking out from the side of the farthest bed. He walks towards to find Woojin resting on one of the wall panes looking at the view (whilst they did have the smallest room, it had the best view). Jihoon sat quietly on his own bed, and stared at the other boy. The bright oranges, yellows and purples were shining onto Woojin's cheeks and it that moment, Jihoon though "huh, you never notice beautiful things until they're literally right in front of you". It's almost as if Woojin heard, because he turned around and invited Jihoon to sit with him. No one says anything and the soft humming of the air conditioning takes over the silence. Woojin looks at Jihoon and asks him "What beautiful things have you noticed so far?" Jihoon turns his head to face him and realises then that his face is quite close to Woojin's and he doesn't make any effort to move. "What?" Jihoon asks back, confusion laced in his voice. "Beautiful things hyung, what have you seen?" Jihoon is lost, because as far as he knows he said it in his head and not out loud, he responds anyways. "Um, t-the sig-sings are nice." THE SIGNS JIHOON, REALLY. Woojin chuckles at Jihoon, who is now a shade of red, almost similar to Woojin's lips (Woojin's lips are beautiful though). "The signs, sure. You know, Jaehwan hyu-" "you're beautiful too." Jihoon doesn't look back, doesn't apologise, he waits for a response. When he doesn't get one, he continues to speak. "I-I think you're really pretty, no wai- not pretty but be-beautiful an-and I, uh, yo-" He stops after Woojin begins to giggle lightly, reaching for Jihoon's hand. "You're beautiful too, Jihoon hyung." "No, but you're beautiful in a different way, I-I can't think of anything that tops how bright your smile is or how deep and beautiful your eyes are and- yeah." Woojin doesn't respond, instead he stands up and he puts a hand in front of Jihoon. Jihoon thinks 'thank god I wouldn't have stopped'. He doesn't think it would be bad if he did though.



 

  * _He forgets that there's a door that connects their room with Jinyoung and Daehwi's room._ Jihoon opens his eyes and the bright sunlight blasting through the windows doesn't really help him. He reaches for his glasses and his phone, finding only the latter. Jihoon tries to get up but an arm around his waist is holding him down. Woojin's red hair is peeking out from where his head is (it's resting well on Jihoon's chest). It's 7:54AM, 6 minutes before they need to wake up. He decides that going to back to sleep and cherishing the few minutes he has left won't hurt him. He's wrong, by the way. Because by 8:10, Daniel and Jaehwan are perched up over his bed, a phone in Daniel's hands and a video recorder in Jaehwan's hands. They scramble and rush out of the room yelling that they only have 15 minutes before they need to leave. He forgot that Jinyoung's room had a door that led them here. Oops.



 

  * _He kissed Woojin._ Okay. Wait, how did this happen again? Oh yeah. It’s 4AM and Jihoon is up on the rooftop. Woojin follows with a cup of coffee and a strawberry milk (Jihoon will never like coffee). There are no stars in the sky, as Seoul’s air pollution has caused this thick layer of smog to cover the shiny sparkles in the sky. The view in front of them is still nice though. Multiple neon signs are lit up and Seoul looks beautiful. He remembers Woojin asking him about what this awkward tug and pull thing they have going on is. Jihoon thinks ‘fuck it’ and kisses him. The rest is blurry because Jihoon is too focused on the fact that he’s kissing Woojin to remember everything else. This might not be a problem for what reasons you might think. It's a problem because it seems like he can't keep kissing him. Well.




	2. thank god you exist pt 1.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> aka how woojin helps jihoon out of the quicksand he's in

1\. Woojin spots Jihoon's neon socks and decided not to mention it, knowing that Jihoon is sensitive about anything at 8AM in the morning. They go for an interview and Jihoon's 'interesting' taste in fashion is discussed. It's then Woojin finds out he isn't the only one who's seen the state of Jihoon's socks. One neon pink, the other neon green. Jihoon turns a dark shade of red as people, including their members, pester him about his fashion. "It's just the way I dress," states Jihoon. "That doesn't mean it isn't funny!" - Woojin makes it his personal mission to go buy Jihoon socks, as Jihoon seems to not have thought about that yet. So he does. He then sneakily hides them in Jihoon's drawer and the next day, he wakes up to Jinyoung exclaiming about how his socks have magically returned back to him. A small smile makes its way onto Woojin's lips. Good, he thinks. Good.

2\. Jihoon left 20 minutes ago and Woojin has just silently been sitting in the corner of the karaoke room they had rented. He manages to exit gracefully (if you count almost getting slapped by Jaehwan, then yes graceful). He returns home at 4:30AM after having to walk the short 10 minutes. He enters the room and the soft and consistent breathing patterns that fill the silence tell him that Jihoon is asleep. He looks for the jeans and finds them folded neatly on Jihoon's mirror. He doesn't take them straight away though, instead he grabs a hanger to prevent the stain from smudging. When 4 days go by and Jihoon has tried almost everything to remove the stain, Woojin leaves saying that he needs to go buy some food from the corner store. He does stop by there, but thats after he's stopped by dry cleaning to get the stain removed. He buys Jihoon's favourite milk and his favourite snack (strawberry and a weird artificially flavoured pack of fish chips) and heads home. He gets the dry cleaning later on in the day at around 8PM and returns home. He places it on Jihoon's mirror where it was originally and he waits. Jihoon walks in and sulks until he realises the stain is no longer there. There's a sigh of relief. The small smile is back on Woojin's face.

3\. Woojin wakes up at 6:00AM, expecting to see Jihoon asleep on the bed beside his. When he doesn't see this, he calmly gets up and gets a drink. He returns back into their shared room with a sling bag, a 10,000 won note, pyjamas and a blanket. He visits the corner shop and he purchases a strawberry milk with those fish chip things he doesn't like. He sets of for the practice room. Jihoon is wearing shorts, so the bruises he has on his legs are extremely prominent. He enters the room quietly, not expecting a reaction. When Jihoon decides to look up from his position of looking down at the floor (in unnecessary disappointment may Woojin add) Woojin is already looking down at him.  "Jihoon, it's 6:30. Why aren't you in bed?" "I had to stay I-I can't get it right I need t-to get it right." "Jihoon." Woojin is taking out the contents of his bag and he lays them out in front of Jihoon. Jihoon hesitantly grabs his pyjamas and he goes to change in the nearest bathroom. They make it back home by 7AM and Jihoon is aimlessly wondering around the apartment. Woojin enters their room and sees Jihoon wrapped in his blanket. The small smile is back. :)

4\. Woojin hears the noise of glass clanking and decides to get up and check where the noise is. He checks the time on his phone. 2:30AM. Who could be awake? He takes light steps into the living room and turns his head into the small archway of the kitchen, only to be met by a familiar back. Said person is coincidentally wearing exactly what Jihoon wore to bed, a pink tshirt paired with grey track bottoms. Jihoon is quietly mumbling to himself, this gives Woojin a chance to observe his state. Currently, there are four cups spread out on their island table, a pile conisisting of 4 textbooks, Jihoon's backpack and sheets of crumpled paper. Woojin concludes that he shouldn't interfere with Jihoon, so he makes his way to the living room and he waits. An hour later, the mumbling has stopped and the soft thump heard from the kitchen helps Woojin indicate that Jihoon has probably passed out. 3:56AM. Woojin sees that Jihoon has 2 sheets left. After succesfully managing to drag the boy onto his bed, Woojin borrows his phone and makes his way to the kitchen and proceeds to complete Jihoon's last 2 sheets of homework (thank god its maths, no need to question a sudden change of writing). He unlocks Jihoon's phone (0714; the date they were announced to be members of wanna one) and sends proof shots to Jihoon's teachers. Once the mugs were washed and the sheets were cleared, Woojin sits down on the island and just smiles. Because, why not?

5\. To say he was worried was an understatement. Woojin had cried holding Jihoon's hand in the car and he cried waiting out in the hall for a report. He didn't bother asking to stay, because everyone just assumed he would be the one to watch Jihoon for the few days he would have to stay in the hospital. "Okay, thanks." "No problem." Daehwi exits the room and signals for Woojin to enter. "Oh, hey." Jihoon says. "You've been out for 6 hours and all I get is a hey?" "Sorry. You should be going, the members are waiting." "I thought Daehwi told you I was staying?" "No. He didn't" "Well, there you go." "You should rest, it won't do you any good talking to me." Woojin make his way to the really uncomfortable plastic chairs. Jihoon almost winces at the sight, Woojin slumped over in a plastic chair. "Come here." "wh-" Jihoon shuffles to one side of the hospital bed, leaving a small gap for Woojin. He walks up slowly, hesistating almost. As soon as his head hits the pillow however, he doesn't hesitate to fall asleep. Jihoon chuckles lightly, resting his head on Woojin's shoulder after tucking both of them in. Woojin smiles again, a small, almost invisible, but still a smile.


	3. thank god you exist pt 2.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> to continue.

6\. All Woojin wanted to do was to go the bathroom, only a few seconds later does he discover that someone has managed to fall onto him. Said person was now clinging onto Woojin’s. As he opens his eyes, he sees that said person is none other than Mr. Park Jihoon. Jihoon’s cheeks were flushed red and his eyes were sealed shut. 30 seconds had passed and Woojin was sure that Jihoon would not make any effort to move. So, he took Jihoon’s small hands in his, and helped him up. Jihoon scurried back into his seat before Woojin could talk about what had just occurred.

7\. 13 hour flights shouldn’t exist. Woojin thinks about how he’d be happier on the ground, watching TV or eating a packet of Jihoon’s weird fish chips (he’s getting used to them now, but he won’t admit that to anybody). Jihoon is looking around, his eyes are darting from the seat in front of him to Daehwi in the span of 2 seconds. Woojin decides to at least try to watch a movie. He sees ‘her’ and remembers that he had watched it previously with Jihoon, back when they were down on the ground and they were coupled up in blankets. He decides watching again won’t hurt. 3 minutes in and his eyes feel like they’re burning, he’s going to fall asleep soon. He unconsciously tilts his head towards his left and he doesn’t bother reacting to the fact that his head is now on someone’s shoulder. He tries to scramble for Jihoon’s hand before he can protest. He falls asleep and thinks that he should something about it later.

8\. They arrive to their hotel room at around 12:20AM. Woojin is glad that he’s managed to make it back in one piece. Jihoon and Woojin enter the room in complete silence. Woojin thinks that he should probably go shower first since Jihoon is just standing in the middle of the room. After taking a brisk shower, he tells Jihoon that it’s his turn to go shower. The latter is startled but does as he’s told anyways. Woojin decides that the view out of their window is too beautiful not to admire. He sits near the foot of Jihoon’s bed silently and watches as cars and night life shine brightly throughout New York, even during the latest times of the night. Jihoon speaks up in the middle of the almost uncomfortable silence, “Huh, you never notice beautiful things until they're literally right in front of you.” Woojin takes this as his time to invite Jihoon to sit next to him. “You should sit,” he says. Woojin is so invested in the view that he forgets he’s requested another human to sit next to him. The humming of the air conditioning becomes prominent, Woojin takes this as his cue to end the silence. “What beautiful things have you noticed so far?” Woojin feels like he’s just whispering words into Jihoon’s neck. Jihoon slowly turns his neck around and replies with a small, shaky “Huh?” Woojin is aware of their proximity, but decides that it’s better ignored. “Beautiful things hyung, what have you seen?" Jihoon’s eyes go up and down in repeated motions. “Um, t-the sig-sings are nice." Woojin chuckles. What? It was funny. “The signs, sure.” Woojin continues. “You know, Jaehwan hyu- ““You’re beautiful too.” Woojin is taken aback. He doesn’t respond not because he can’t, but because he doesn’t want to. How would you respond to that? "I-I think you're really pretty, no wai- not pretty but be-beautiful an-and I, uh, yo-" Woojin takes this as his cue to help Jihoon out a bit. So, he grabs his hand and puts it in his and starts with “You’re beautiful too, Jihoon hyung.””No, but you're beautiful in a different way, I-I can't think of anything that tops how bright your smile is or how deep and beautiful your eyes are and- yeah." Woojin doesn’t respond. He doesn’t think he should. So, instead, he gets up and offers a hand to Jihoon. ‘This was good’, he thinks.

9\. Woojin opens his eyes to the sight of Daniel and Jaehwan, the latter holding a video camera. He doesn’t bother moving though, because he knows that the group chat has already seen the events that have occurred. He just tells Jihoon to sleep. And that’s exactly what they do.

10\. Woojin wakes up and looks across the room to see that Jihoon isn’t in his bed. He gets up slowly, as to not awaken his other members, and makes his way to the kitchen. 3:52AM. Where could Jihoon be? He makes his way to the fridge and takes out a box of strawberry milk then proceeds to make himself some coffee. He takes both drinks and exits through the fire exit, making his way up the stairs. At first glance, it seems like nobody is there. However, Woojin knows better. He makes his way towards the corner and peeps through the small wooden bars of the bunk bed and he spots Jihoon. He’s facing away from Woojin, he doesn’t see him coming in. Woojin taps Jihoon on the shoulder lightly, causing Jihoon to visibly shake. Jihoon offers him a seat though, as he sits up and scoots over. There are no stars in the sky, as Seoul’s air pollution has caused this thick layer of smog to cover the shiny sparkles in the sky. The view in front of them is still nice though. Multiple neon signs are lit up and Seoul looks beautiful. Woojin thinks now is the time to address everything. “So, are we ever going to talk about what happened in New York?” “I don’t recall anything happening in New York.” Woojin sighs and looks out at the view. “Jihoon I almost kissed you.” “But you didn’t.” Woojin takes note of how Jihoon sounds slightly disappointed. “Did you want me to kiss you?” Silence. Woojin looks at Jihoon and he’s already looking at him, more so his lips. Woojin is frozen, he doesn’t move an inch. That is, until Jihoon says “What if the answer to your question is yes?” He goes for it. It’s nice, he thinks. Jihoon’s lips taste like strawberry, they’re also very chapped. That’s okay though. He’s still kissing Jihoon. He leans a back a bit so he can lie down and he takes Jihoon down with him. A gust of wind blows and Jihoon squeals into Woojin’s shoulder. Woojin is giggling and Jihoon is snuggling up against him. This how Woojin liked it. Jihoon. Cuddles. And the chance to be a young boy in love. Yeah, he could live with this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UHH THANKS FOR READING THIS MESS ILY READER <33   
> leave me stuff on my cc!  
> https://curiouscat.me/kimyoungkyuns  
> i'll be back sooner than u think ;))

**Author's Note:**

> A 2PARK FIC STOP SLEEPING ON MY TALENTED MEN pls and thnx i wrote this whilst i was on my 13 hour flight ok ,, also i have no idea how long a flight from south korea to new york is,, i used my flight time instead lmaO


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